A sombre reminder

The rituals of remembrance, in their various forms, are now almost a century old, but they still retain their solemn power. In our local and national convocations on Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day – in our shared silence, and our shared mourning – we pay due tribute to those who have fallen in the service of their country, whether they fought in the fields of Flanders or Helmand, on the streets of Arnhem or Basra.

This shared rite is about to take on a new resonance. Next July marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War; over the following years, the memory of its unfolding will cast its shadow over our pleasant, peaceful, often pampered lives. It will be a reminder that remembrance should not be limited to two days in November – and that our task is not just to remember the fallen, but to honour them, too.